It's an art form with little margin for error - just ask any celebrity made to stand next to their own waxwork which barely has a passing resemblance.

But when artists get waxworks right, the results can be so stunning it's near impossible to tell them from real people.

The models created by Carole Feuerman are the latter, as they're so realistic that people sometimes think they're alive.

Is she real? Artist Carole Feuerman takes six painstaking months to create the stunningly lifelike sculptures

Carole, 50, spends a gruelling six months on the waxworks, with her hyper-realistic sculptures selling for as much as £250,000 each.

The Manhattan-based sculptor's collection includes several female model waxworks in swimming costumes or bikinis.

The grandmother-of-two said her waxworks are seen as so lifelike that viewers of her work often refer to the models as real people.

She said: 'My studio can take people by surprise, it is always littered with different body parts.'As my work is designed to look as realistic as possible, people often get a bit freaked out when they come in.

Larger than life: Part of the time consuming nature of creating the models is down to their large size

'When I am creating and painting a sculpture people refer to the work as 'it'.

'But when the piece is finished, people subconsciously start calling them 'him' or 'her' - they speak about my art as if they were real people.

'Even with people who have worked with me for years, and are used to my art, end up doing it.

'When designing a piece, I rarely base a sculpture purely on one person - most of my work will use the face of one model, the body of another and the arms and hands of a third.

Squint and she's real: Carole's lifelike models sell for up to £250,000 each

'I have sculptures that have been made up of body parts of five or six different people.'

Carole creates the amazing works by creating a mould, and making a resin cast out of liquid polyester, before using very fine sandpaper to refine the piece and to give the sculpture its lifelike skin.

She then spends weeks spraying hundreds of layers of skin-toned paint to the piece, attaching real human hair to finally bring it to life.

But as fears grew that the whale may have had to be put down, the eight-hour rescue attempt came to an end as the distressed creature was finally freed.

It is now heading back out into the North Sea to be reunited with his mother.

A spokesman for British Divers Marine Life Rescue: ‘We got a call at 8am this morning to say there was a Minke whale beached at Immingham Docks.

'At that moment in time it was facing towards the sea, but we successfully helped rotate it.

'Fire services began digging a trench to allow water underneath the whale and support it. The concern was that the tide would continue to drop and it would not be able to support its large weight, so we obviously needed to get it back to sea as soon as possible.

Rescue plan: Fire services dug a trench to help create a path deep enough to secure the whale's safe passage back to sea once the next high tide came in

'Thankfully, Minke whales can survive a bit longer than other whales. With good first aid and animal care the animal can survive for 12 hours.

'We have had our local co-ordinator there and a team of British Marine Life medics who worked very closely with the RSPCA, vets, Coastguard, fire services and Humber rescue to ensure the safe return of the whale to its mother.

'We are all just relieved the whale has been successfully reunited with his mother.'

A spokeswoman for Humber Coastguard said: 'The larger whale has not been seen for a while, so we believe that is also heading back out to sea.'

Monday, September 5, 2011

Appy cyclists

Swiss manufacturers will this week launch the futurist eJalopy GreenWheel - a bike with a revolutionary electric motor and loaded with sensors, apps, and internet connections.

Users can use wi-fi links to their smart phones to find their friends for them and then tap into GPS systems to find the best, quickest or most energy efficient route there.

They can also monitor their own performance, pulse and calories burned up - and send out challenges by SMS from the £3,000 bike to see if anyone can beat their personal bests.

And when the effort gets too much, riders can sit back and let the electric motor - built into the green coloured rear wheel hub - do all the work.

MTB Cycletech designer Butch Gaudy and computer expert Michael Lin said: "We wanted to make a quick, quiet and effortless bike that runs on a simple platform that would allow new functions and apps to be added."

Dangerous: Fans came out to watch the daredevils ride the massive Californian waves

Beaches had been closed after several people spotted a 12 inch shark fin on Wednesday near the Children's Pool.

Fishermen also found a dead baby seal off the Ocean Beach pier with shark bite marks.

Another two mile stretch of beach in the area was closes last week after a lifeguard saw an 18 inch dorsal fin.

Fierce: The waves crashed down with huge force as surfers battled the conditions

The picture also comes as other astonishing images were taken of surfers hitting the waves in their droves in California yesterday despite being told to keep out of the water because of dangerous conditions.

Authorities issued warnings about waves pounding the central California coast that left a swimmer missing and caused a marijuana smuggling boat to crash onto a beach.

Lifeguards conducted dozens of rescues and the massive surf also caused some damage to the Ocean Beach and San Clemente piers.

Friday, September 2, 2011

Fancy a ride on the bright side? Unique Pink Panther car set to be sold for £100,000

The original Pink Panther car is set to fetch up to £100,000 at auction next month.

The unique vehicle featured in the title credits of the hit children's TV series from 1969 to 1976.

The car was the brainchild of prolific Hollywood vehicle designer Jay Ohrberg, who also made the DeLorean from Back to the Future and KITT from Knight Rider, as well as several Batmobiles.

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Iconic: The Panthermobile shared top billing in The Pink Panther Show with Inspector Clouseau, left, and the eponymous panther himself

This bright pink model - the 'Panthermobile' - appeared in the opening and closing sequences of The Pink Panther Show, which was inspired by the films starring Peter Sellers as bungling Inspector Clouseau.

Mr Ohrberg himself owned the car until he sold it for £88,000 at auction in 2007.

Auctioneer Jonathan Kay said: 'The vehicle is in totally original condition, and would benefit from some sympathetic restoration as the car is now 42 years old.

Stylish: The car is thought to be in full working order - but its new owner is unlikely to risk it on the road

Centre stage: The car featured heavily in the opening credits of The Pink Panther Show until 1976

'The engine is not currently running, but it was believed to be working when the vehicle was sold in 2007.'

The Panthermobile is being sold in an online auction run by Manchester-based firm Robson Kay.

Hurricane Irene streakers prank news reporter in Virginia Beach

As one news reporter attempted to relay the impact of Hurricane Irene in the US state of Virginia, his flow was interrupted by a group of shirtless men - one of whom pulled down his shorts to reveal a whole other type of cold front.

Streaker fail: Hurricane, what hurricane (Picture: YouTube)

Eric Fisher was explaining to viewers of The Weather Channel how 'speechless' he was at the swarms of people out and about in the treacherous conditions when the disruption happened.

'I'm pretty much speechless about how many people we've been seeing driving around, people like what you see behind me, which I apologise for,' he said as the pranksters splashed around behind him.

'It's just setting a bad example and, honestly, it's depressing to watch at the moment.'

Meanwhile, as video footage of the blooper began making its way around the web, one Twitter user posted: 'Eric in Virginia Beach is reporting high winds, driving rain and a ten per cent chance of streakers.'

In another hurricane-related news-reporting fail, a journo in Maryland ended up covered in what appeared to be raw sewage as he provided live updates for stations around the US.

As Irene hit the coast and Tucker Barnes was sprayed by what he described as 'sea foam', he said: 'It doesn't taste great... I can tell you first-hand, it doesn't smell great.'

Trip to the Zhou: Remains of horses and chariots unearthed from tomb dating back to 3,000-year-old Chinese dynasty

It could have been as early as 700 years before the birth of Jesus Christ that these horses were moved on to greener pastures - and no-one has laid eyes on them until now.

Archaeologists have painstakingly uncovered the almost-3,000-year-old remains of horses and wooden chariot in a Zhou Dynasty tomb in Luoyang, Henan Province, China.

The completed excavation unearthed four horse-and-chariot pits, dating back to as far as 770BC.

Watering the horses: A staff member sprays water to maintain the humidity of an ancient horse and chariot pit unearthed in Luoyang, China. The main pit has a five chariots and 12 horses buring almost 3,000 years ago

Exciting find: Archaeologists say this is the most complete find of any tomb of its era. The wooden chariots have completely rotted away, with only the ash residue remaining

Funeral procession: The main pit contains five chariots and 12 horses. Archaeologists say that the animals were not entombed alive

The pits have well-preserved evidence of bronzeware and ceramics from the Early Western Zhou dynasty.

Though a far smaller tomb than the famous 'terracotta army' found in 1974 in the Lintong District, this find has been undisturbed while buried - not suffering the ravages of grave robbers.

Archaeologists believe that the tomb belongs to an official of some renown during the dynasty - pottery, metal weaponwry and inscriptions are consisted with a man of mid-level importance.

Apart from the artifacts themselves, the tomb is an exciting discovery for historians, as it provides unquestionable insights into the funeral customs in the early Western Zhou dynasty.

The unearthed tomb is a vertical earthen pit tomb, which is very common in that period.

Because of the ancient nature of the site, the traditionally wooden coffin and body within have long-since carbonised.

But the most valuable discovery by far is the complete set of chariots and horses of all different shapes and sizes.

Animal lovers can at least breathe a small sigh of relief - archaeologists say the side-lying nature of the horse remains show that the animals were slaughtered before burial, and not entombed alive.

At the time of this official''s death, large-scale irrigation projects were being instituted across China, and the nation's writing system was being further developed.

It was also the time of the great Chinese philosophers of antiquity, including Confucius, Mencius, and Zhuangzi.

Many nearby tombs have fragments of the Luoyang find, but most have been emptied of their funeral relics by thieves.

Protected from theft: While other tombs in the region have been stripped of their contents, the Luoyang tomb includes pottery, copper weaponry, jade and other objects

Historical riches: Apart from the physical objects uncovered in the tomb, historians now have a richer understanding of funeral rites and customs of the Zhou dynasty

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About Me

So much news today is dull, depressing, controversial. It's almost impossible to watch news without hearing story after story of war, terror, killing, destruction, government, corruption, etc. I come across weird and wonderful news items as I scan the worlds press that put a smile on ones face or distract one from all the doom and gloom. These are the stories that will make up "The Quirky Globe". If you have any reactions to articles please leave a comment.... it may encourage debate. Pass this site on to your friends who are also fed up with mainstream news and become a follower. Enjoy and smile.